Stand up for Pensions

Nova Scotia considers changes to pension legislation

The Nova Scotia government is considering changes to pension legislation that would undermine your accrued defined benefit (DB) pensions.

Nova Scotia’s Department of Finance and Treasury Board has asked stakeholders to provide feedback on its review of the funding framework for defined benefit plans and other regulatory issues.

Question 10 of the consultation paper asks: “Should defined benefit plans be permitted to convert to target benefit plans, including benefits earned in the past?”

The answer is clearly no.

Permitting defined benefit plans to convert already-earned benefits to target benefits would allow employers to transfer significant risk to workers and retirees, after years of sacrifice for their defined benefit plans.

While the consultation focuses private sector plans (those registered under Nova Scotia’s Pension Benefits Act) there may be implications for plans in the public sector, which are established by different legislation.

Unifor members in the federal jurisdiction are familiar with this question. After Justin Trudeau’s Liberals quietly introduced Bill C-27 in October 2016, we launched a successful campaign to educate our members and Federal Liberal MPs about the history of this proposal and negative impact such changes to pension legislation can have on workers and retirees.

If similar legislation is adopted in Nova Scotia, significant risk could be transferred from employers to workers and retirees, after years of sacrifice for their defined benefit plans.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

CLICK TO Email and electronically sign the petition to Nova Scotia’s Minister of Finance

HELP US STOP C-27

On October 19, 2016, Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, was quietly introduced in the House of Commons. The Bill establishes a framework for single-employer target-benefit pension plans (TBPs) in the federal private sector and for Crown corporations.

Under C-27 workers and retirees could see their accrued defined benefit pensions converted to target benefit pensions. The conversion could lead to reductions of current and future pension payments as it would shift virtually all financi

al risk from the employer to plan members. Even retiree pensions could be reduced!

TAKE ACTION NOW!

To email Finance Minister Bill Morneau at and your own Member of Parliament to demand the withdrawal of Bill C-27 click the email button.

This will directly impact Unifor members working in federally regulated sectors such as rail, media, air transportation and telecommunication. In fact, Bell Aliant already expressed interest in moving from a DB to a TBP in future negotiations when they were consulted by the ruling Conservative’s back in 2014.

When the Harper government proposed a similar pension grab Justin Trudeau clearly stated that DB plans should not be retroactively changed into TBPs.

Now the Liberals are picking up where the Conservatives left off!

We need to let the government know that changing the pension rules will reduce the benefits that pensioners rely on and will result in weaker pension plans for workers across the country. If the federal government is successful, other provinces will likely follow with similar legislation.

National President Jerry Dias calls Bill C-27 a smoke and mirrors scheme that opens the way for employers to attack good defined benefit pension plans in federally regulated workplaces.

Campaign Updates

Pension bill halted

4/27/2017 -

Unifor’s campaign against Bill C-27 has forced the federal government to take a step back, halting the bill’s progression. The campaign continues to seek full withdrawal of the proposed legislation, which threatens pension security for members in federally regulated sectors.

“This shows the power of political lobbying,” said Jerry Dias, National President. “The Liberal government tried to ram this through but the tremendous online response has made them think twice.”

To date, over 2,600 members and retirees have signed Unifor’s online petition, sending a clear message to the government that Bill C-27 is an attack on workers and retirees.

As a result, the Ministry of Finance announced further consultation before proceeding with the legislation.